RIDING OUT THE STORM

Hurricane Sandy hit Monday early afternoon.

We lost power around 1:30pm

and thankfully it was restored about 30 hours later.

There are still people without in many, many places.

Mike, of course, was out with the fire department.

He stopped home in a rescue vehicle for a brief few minutes to survey the damage.

All day Monday and until about lunchtime on Tuesday he was gone.

There were a few calls later in the day as well.

We didn't get much rain, but boy oh boy, the wind was fierce.

As you can see, we had a very large tree come down..

Providentially, it missed the house.  I don't know if you can tell, but if it had fallen at a slightly different angle, we would have had some major damage.

As it was, it missed the dog coop and the hen house..but smashed the chick coop and the hen's enclosure.  It could have been sooo much worse.  The tree actually split into pieces, the hen house you can see is right in between.

We did (partial) schoolwork by flashlight..read books..and lit candles

  and the kids played some board games and colored.  

Our "playroom" though the chilliest, also has the best light with all the "windows" so we spent the majority of our time in there.

I don't know about you, but I did NOT sleep well that night.

Between the wind howling and gusting and Mike being out and hearing the cracking of trees and not being able to see if anything was happening outside...yeah.  Not so much.

The kids all slept soundly.

Something else I was thankful for.

Though, I was tempted to just gather them all up and have a big slumber party--it worked out.

Firewood for next season.

 We can be thankful for that.

Also, we are very thankful to our thoughtful neighbors who let us plug into their generator so we didn't lose any food.  We were able to plug in the freezer and fridge. 

Still no phone service, but at least we have internet and could reach people that way if absolutely necessary.   Gas is apparently an issue as is stoplights not working.  I don't HAVE to venture out until the end of the week, so hopefully it will be at least partially restored to order in the next couple of days.

Finally, I'm thankful this baby stayed put.

At this point in the game, it could be any time..but that would have been rough.

Even now, with no phone service and roads a mess it could be hairy if little one decides to come.

God is in control.

That is what we have to rest in.

Hope everyone else is hanging in there!